SERBIA took a crucial step forward in its bid to join the European Union yesterday, when EU foreign ministers agreed to examine Belgrade’s candidacy, in reward for softening its stance on Kosovo.

Kosovo’s leaders sent out 192 letters to the world’s nations today asking for formal recognition of its independence.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell has withheld a decision on whether Yugoslavia has cooperated sufficiently with the war crimes tribunal and on other issues to avert a freeze in US aid.

A defiant Slobodan Milosevic has denounced his arrest as "politically staged" in an appeal demanding his release in a statement written from his cell.